already commenced when he took his place in the coupe. If there be a
thing which a man should not do when his system is undermined, and his
pulse between 90 and 100, it is to travel all night by a railway express.
Nevertheless, as the Englishman's will was yet stronger than his frame,
he would not give himself more than an hour's rest, and again started for
Berlin. Long before he got to Berlin, the will failed him--as well as
the frame. He was lifted out of the carriage, taken to a hotel in a
small German town, and six hours afterwards he was delirious. It was
fortunate for him that under such circumstances plenty of money and
Scott's circular-notes for some hundreds were found in his pocketbook,
so that he did not fail to receive attentive nursing and skilful medical
treatment. There, for the present, I must leave him--leave him for how
long? But any village apothecary could say that fever such as his must
run its course. He was still in bed, and very dimly--and that but at
times--conscious, when the German armies were gathering round the penfold
of Sedan.




CHAPTER VIII.

When the news of the disastrous day at Sedan reached Paris, the first
effect was that of timid consternation. There were a few cries of
_Decheance_! fewer still of _Vive la Republique_ among the motley crowds;
but they were faint, and chiefly by ragged _gamins_. A small body
repaired to Trochu and offered him the sceptre, which he politely
declined. A more important and respectable body--for it comprised the
majority of the _Corps Legislatif_--urged Palikao to accept the temporary
dictatorship, which the War Minister declined with equal politeness. In